Last week's drama. The Senate leader (a Democrat) and the House leader (a Republican) meet at the Governor's mansion to hammer out a budget deal. They emerge announcing an agreement and he is no where to be seen!

And he is angry at the Republicans! Get a clue! The Democratic dominated Senate passed the bill this AM!

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My favorite study about preschool is the "Perry" (no known relation) study from NC or somewhere that found that with the judicious application of tens of thousands of dollars per kid, you could hire trained teachers and.....do slightly better than the average welfare mom.....except that the correlation pretty much disappears when you account for incoming IQ among the students.

So our "governor" wants to be remembered as someone whose great achievement is throwing money down the toilet to his political benefactors. Well, yes, but we already knew that, Mr. Dayton. Stop it, please.

As for Dayton, he is way off on his demand to include pre-k. No one wants it except the union bosses. The teachers don't want it, the school administrators don't want it, the tax payer doesn't want it, and the young children don't want it (as it would put a lot of child care businesses out of business).

But when and where a special session would be held are serious questions. The Capitol will be off-limits later this week for months-long repairs. Dayton and top lawmakers would probably negotiate a new education deal before the full Legislature is summoned into session.Dayton has floated the idea of having the Legislature meet outdoors. A downtown hotel offered to host the gathering. The state constitution requires the session to occur in St. Paul.Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk expects a couple-week breather because exhausted lawmakers need to recharge and blow off steam.Action would have to occur before July 1 to prevent a partial shutdown.

Interesting comment about unions:"Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, is a big supporter of universal preschool because teachers believe it will improve school readiness. Teachers unions would also likely gain members if Dayton's universal system becomes law."